Men Sentenced For Luring, Jumping On Manatees

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Two men have been sentenced over an online video that shows one man jumping on two manatees.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Orlando reports that 22-year-oldTaylor Blake Martinwas ordered Wednesday to pay a $3,000 fine, while 22-year-old Seth Andrew Stephenson must pay $2,000. Both men must serve 175 hours of community service. The men pleaded guilty in March to taking or harassing an endangered species.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials began investigating last year after the video was posted on Facebook. The video shows one man, identified by prosecutors as Stephenson, luring two manatees to a dock on a Cocoa Beach canal with a water hose, and another man, identified asMartin, jumping off the dock, “cannonballing” an adult manatee and a calf.